Cycling

Lord Trefgarne: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to require the carriage of identity documents by cyclists riding on highways.

Baroness Kramer: We have no plans to make cyclists carry identification. The police already have sufficient powers if they are unsure of a person’s identity.

Housing: Disability

Lord Swinfen: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to enable disabled people to locate suitable properties in their locality.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to require local authorities to provide a list of suitable accessible homes for disabled people in their local area.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Government is committed to supporting disabled people to live safely in accommodation suitable to their needs.
	To facilitate the provision of suitable housing in England, the Government is providing £315 million over five years for the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund. The main aim of the fund is to support and accelerate the development of the specialised housing market for older people and disabled adults.
	The Department for Communities and Local Government is providing £785 million between 2011-12 and 2014-15 for the Disabled Facilities Grant, which is administered by local authorities in England and provides adaptations to the homes of disabled people to help them to live as independently as possible in their own home.
	We have no plans to require local authorities to provide lists of homes suitable for disabled people.
	However, a number of local authorities maintain “accessible housing registers”, and in London there is a city-wide London Accessible Housing Register (https://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/housing-land/renting-home/london-accessible-housing-register).
	The Government believes it is important that people who require accessible housing are given the right level of priority under a council’s housing allocation scheme, and that councils and social landlords are able to make the best use of affordable housing in their area, including accommodation which is accessible or has been adapted. We have retained the statutory “reasonable preference” requirements which ensure that priority for social housing is given to those who need to move on medical and welfare grounds (including grounds relating to a disability).
	Around half of all disabled people are also older people, and the Department for Communities and Local Government supports FirstStop Advice, a national information and advice service that can help older people to locate more suitable properties to move to, or to access services to help them repair, adapt or improve their current homes to make them more suitable for older age.

Railways: Liverpool

Lord Birt: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the relative impact on Liverpool, compared to Leeds and Manchester, if neither HS2 nor the proposed HS3 rail links are connected to the city.

Baroness Kramer: The high-level assessments of potential options for the route of Phase Two of HS2, including options for serving Liverpool, were published and can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/options-for-phase-two-of-the-high-speed-rail-network
	The potential route of HS3 to introduce improved rail links in the north has not been decided. The plans are at an early stage. The Government has asked Sir David Higgins to produce a plan for bringing the benefits of high-speed rail to the north more quickly, as well as initial proposals for faster east-west connections,– including options on route, timescales and cost, and to deliver this in the autumn. This will start the process by which we can have a proper debate about the future of rail connectivity in the north.